Verifying Viganò: Francis Incriminates Himself

Now that nearly three months have passed since the MOAB (Mother of All Bombs) was dropped on the Francis pontificate by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, it is time to assess what can be gleaned from the Vatican response about the accuracy of the Viganò charges.

Remnant readers will recall that, within hours of the release of Viganò ’s Testimony, Pope Francis personally issued his own non-answer to the charges. For all with all eyes to see, he inadvertently confirmed the very “conspiracy of silence” detailed by Archbishop Viganò in his initial testimony.

Pope Francis uttered the astonishing words, “I will not say a single word about this.” What? Surely, this Pope of Mercy understands the pain and suffering of clergy abuse victims anxiously awaiting an appropriate papal response to the McCarrick predation?

Apparently, not. Instead, Francis stunned them with his silence and apparent indifference, thus adding fuel to the fires of accusation of a papal coverup while providing even more evidence of papal complicity.

Apparently, the pontiff from ‘the ends of the earth’ just doesn’t get it. His dismissive response to the damning allegations against then-Cardinal McCarrick greatly strengthens the Viganò case. Francis refused to refute any of the charges leveled against him by a most credible witness. Not a one.

Imagine a corporate CEO refusing to address detailed accusations of malfeasance and cover up leveled against him by an insider whistleblower. If said CEO responded as Francis did, he’d be gone in twenty-four hours. But the papal hubris on display at 30,000 feet is made all the worse by the fact that this scandal is not about faulty airbags or dirty restaurants. This is about the predatory sexual assaults of a cardinal on young males and seminarians.

Perhaps Bergoglio needs the USCCB VIRTUS® refresher course. Even Catholic school janitors understand that, for the protection of children, if there is a credible allegation of sexual abuse it must be reported to authorities and investigated.

The VIRTUS lesson plan might have come in handy with all the clergy abuse victims that Francis ignored while still Cardinal Archbishop of Buenos Aires and, later, as Pope, with the substantiated allegations against his pal Bishop Barros, Fr. Grassi, Fr. Inzoli, Fr. Capozzi, to name just a few.

Beatriz Varela is an Argentine woman whose son suffered sexual abuse at the hands of a Buenos Aires priest where Francis once served as the cardinal. Varela said the Francis ignored victims of sexual abuse while welcoming celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio with open arms.

“He receives all the celebrities, like Leonardo DiCaprio, and opens his door to them. And for us, not even a quick letter to say he was sorry.”

Sounding more like a Borgia Pope, Francis castigated those people that accuse clerics and bishops of sexual abuse as being like Satan, “the Great Accuser.” That medieval attitude and stance will land you in jail in America.

In classic Bergoglian foot dragging, the USCCB was forced to wait a month following the Viganò accusations before the Pope granted a meeting with the American delegation of Cardinals DiNardo, O’Malley and Archbishop Gomez. The long-awaited meeting was for the purpose of requesting an apostolic visitation to investigate the charges surrounding McCarrick’s serial predation.

Having learned his lesson from the disastrous Barros Apostolic Visitation, which forced a papal public apology over his personal mishandling of the scandal, Francis refused to grant an Apostolic Visitation into the McCarrick sex abuse allegations. Instead—and this can only be described as a public insult to victims and concerned Catholics–the Vatican.